Luca
I’m going to lose Ivy. I know I am. I could hear the distance in her voice—it’s getting worse as time goes on. Every day that I spend in Argyle, Ivy slips further and further away from me.
I can’t stay here. I have to go back to Farcliff.
It’s moments like this that you realize what’s important to you. I don’t care about Theo and Cara. I don’t care about the betrayal that consumed my heart for the past year.
I don’t care about Beckett, or his fresh betrayal. His attempt on my life means nothing.
The only thing that matters is Ivy.
My Poison. My antidote. My everything.
Rushing to my bedroom, I start throwing clothes into a bag. I’ll jump on the jet tonight. I need to see her.
But Theo appears in the doorway, his eyes flicking to my bag.
“Where are you going?”
“Farcliff,” I answer, tossing my toothbrush in my bag.
“Luca, you can’t.”
“Like fuck, I can’t.”
“What about Beckett?”
“What about him?” I spin around, staring at the King. Shaking my head, I scoff. “Why would I give him any more of my time? The woman I love needs me, Theo. Surely you would understand that?”
Theo stares at me, his eyes boring into mine. “So, you leaving has nothing to do with Cara? Nothing to do with me?”
I laugh, turning back to my suitcase. “No,” I say. “Nothing.”
Theo is silent behind me, and I sense his eyes on my back as I move back and forth in the room. The air hangs heavy between us, and I force myself to straighten my shoulders and turn to look at him.
“Do you have a problem with me leaving?”
“I grounded all the planes and closed the ports,” Theo says quietly. “I wanted to make sure Beckett didn’t make a run for it.”
“Are you going to force me to stay?” Anger flares inside me, igniting the fire in my veins. I clench my fists. Everything feels hot. The tips of my ears feel like they’re burning.
After everything that’s happened between us, is Theo going to stop me from leaving? He stole the woman I thought I wanted, sent me off to get fixed, and never visited me once. Then, once I got better, he used me for his fucking publicity campaign to boost the image of our Kingdom.
Now, he wants to keep me hemmed in here while he looks for the man who tried to kill me, all the while sweeping the whole thing under the rug?
I’m trembling, clenching my fists to stop myself from doing something that will have me arrested for treason.
Theo lets out a sigh and shakes his head. “I’ll get the royal jet prepared for you.” My brother lifts his eyes to mine. “Thank you for coming back and doing the events over the past couple of days. Thank you for treating me and Cara with respect. You’re a better man than I am, Luca.”
I shake my head. “I just know what’s important.”
Theo nods. “You going to bring her back here? I’d like to meet her.”
“If she lets me,” I smile.
Theo snaps his fingers, and an attendant materializes in the doorway. I turn back to my suitcase as Theo commands the man to prepare the jet.
The tension between my shoulders eases slightly, because I know I’ll be by Ivy’s side within hours. I’ll get to hold her hand in mine and press my lips against hers. I’ll touch her, kiss her, breathe her in.
I’ll bridge this distance that has grown between us, and show her that I care about her more than anything else in the world. More than my reputation, or my Kingdom, or my past.
She’s everything to me.
Even if she wants to push me away, I need to go back to her and let her know how I feel.
My knee bounces up and down the entire flight back to Farcliff. A car is waiting for me at the airport. The driver puts my small suitcase in the trunk of the car and then slips into the driver’s seat. He looks in the rear-view mirror and arches his eyebrow.
“Where to, Your Highness?”
I stare back at him blankly. “I… I don’t know.”
To his credit, the driver’s face remains neutral and professional. I clear my throat and give him Spoonful of Sugar’s address. While we drive, I dial Ivy’s number.
She doesn’t answer.
I text her, staring at the screen as I wait for a response. The sun has long gone down, and I wonder if maybe she’s asleep.
When we get to the bakery, the shopfront is dark. I direct him to the back of the building, but the door is locked. There aren’t any cars parked here. It’s empty.
I sigh, frustrated, and call Ivy again.
Still, no answer.
So I direct the driver to Margot’s mansion. I don’t know the twins’ address or their phone numbers, so the only other person I know is Margot.
When we get there, a chill passes through me. This mansion became my second home while I was in Farcliff, but now it seems cold and uninviting.
Dread twists in my stomach.
Why isn’t Ivy answering? She hasn’t spoken to me at all since that awful conversation. Does she really want to toss me aside?
Does she not care about what happened between us?
Closing my eyes, I try to talk myself down. It’s late. She’s probably asleep.
Margot will know where she is. At the very least, she should know where Giselle and Georgina live. I take a deep breath and put my hand on the car door handle, ready to face Margot and her wrath.
As it turns out, though, Margot’s wrath isn’t directed at me today. The front door of the mansion flies open and Hunter, Margot’s agent, sprints out.
Margot isn’t far behind, hurling projectiles at him as she screams. One of them hits him on the head, bouncing toward the driveway. I get out of the car in time to see an apple rolling on the pavement.
“I trusted you!” Margot shrieks, her eyes blazing. She doesn’t even look at me. All her energy and anger is directed at her agent. “You bastard!”
“I did it for you, Margot. With the bakery and your sister gone, you’d be able to rebuild your career. But you’re too fucking dumb to realize what’s good for you.”
My eyes widen. Hunter’s gaze swings to me, and he snaps his teeth.
Margot trembles, stalking toward him with fury in her eyes. “How dare you?”
“Oh give me a fucking break,” he says, puffing his chest out but backing away from her. “You never cared about your sister. You just used her, and she used you.”
“Leave,” Margot says. Her voice is low and dangerous. It sends tremors through my stomach, and her eyes don’t leave her agent. “I never want to see your face again, Hunter.”
“You’d be nothing without me, Margot. You’re making a big mistake. You’d still be waiting tables at the Grimdale Diner if I hadn’t discovered you.”
Margot trembles, staring at her agent and taking one more step toward him. The roar that comes out of her mouth is inhuman. She screams wordlessly as Hunter scrambles away from her, jumping into his car and tearing down the driveway.
Falling to her knees, Margot drops her head in her hands. Sobs shake her shoulders. I rush toward her, putting my hand on her back.
She sniffles, wiping her nose on the back of her hand as she lifts her gaze to mine. “He poisoned them, Your Highness. He said he did it for me. He put my sister in the hospital because he thought that was what I wanted.”
A chill runs down my spine. “He what?”
The next few minutes are a blur. My heart is in my throat as Margot slips into the back seat of the car with me. Vaguely, I hear her give the name of a hospital to the driver, and I grip the edge of the seat with my hand.
“Drive faster, damn it!”
I’m hyperventilating, gripping the leather so hard my hands go numb. Margot sits beside me and puts her hand over mine.
For the first time, her touch doesn’t make me uncomfortable. It’s not the touch of a lover—or someone pretending to be a lover—it’s the touch of a friend. Of some
one who is hurting just as much as I am.
Her face is white, and runny mascara has left trails down her cheeks. Her long, blonde hair is stringy. She gives me a tight-lipped smile and nods her head.
“It’ll be okay.”
I inhale, not believing her.
Why didn’t Ivy tell me? Why would she hide the fact that she was in the hospital? What if she’s not asleep or ignoring me… What if it’s worse?
The driver stops outside the emergency department, and I rush through the sliding glass doors. I drum my fingers on the reception desk as the old woman behind it takes an eternity to type Ivy’s name in the computer.
Her glasses are perched on the end of her nose. “Let’s see, here,” she says, staring at the screen.
I want to scream. I want to turn the screen toward me and yell at her to hurry the fuck up, old woman!
But Margot puts her hand on my forearm, and I don’t say anything. We finally get Ivy’s room number, and I take off at full speed. Mashing the elevator buttons, I get impatient and decide to rush up the stairs. I can’t stay still. I need to see Ivy, to touch her, to make sure she’s okay.
When I get to her floor, I run down the hallway until I get to the very last room. It has floor-to-ceiling windows on either side, encasing Ivy almost entirely in glass. The blinds haven’t been drawn, and I can see Ivy’s black hair against the white hospital bed sheets. Her face is turned toward me, her eyes peacefully closed.
My heart jumps to my throat and a tear slides down my face.
She should have told me. I should have been here.
A weird mix of love, relief, and anger swirls inside me. Love for Ivy, relief that she’s okay, and anger that she didn’t tell me she was here.
I push the door open gently and walk to her bedside. Cupping her face in my hands, I press a trembling kiss to her lips.
When I pull back to look at her face, Ivy’s eyes open.
A sigh escapes her lips, and a tiny, tired smile stretches across her face.
“You’re here,” she whispers.
“Of course I’m here. I’ll always be here.”
39
Ivy
“I’m pregnant,” I blurt out, opening my eyes wider.
I hadn’t meant to say it like that, in the darkness of a hospital room with the Prince leaning over my bed. I’d spent all afternoon crafting the perfect speech to tell him, when I was finally strong enough. But now that he’s here, I just had to get it out. I had to tell him the truth.
The Prince freezes, and for a horrible moment, I think I feel him pull away from me. My mind spirals, and all my fears come true. He doesn’t want the baby. He doesn’t want me. He’s going to leave.
Instead, he strokes the side of my face with the back of his fingers as his eyes soften.
“You’re...pregnant?” His eyebrows arch hopefully, and a flash crosses his eyes.
I nod, not trusting my voice. When the Prince’s face breaks into a smile, my heart erupts. I don’t realize how much fear was housed inside me until it’s released all at once. My worries fall away, and I cling onto the Prince like the lifeline that he is. He buries his face into my neck as a sobbing laugh falls out of him.
Of course he wasn’t leaving me. Of course he wants the baby.
I was a fool to push him away.
I don’t even realize tears are falling from my eyes until the Prince brushes them away. He presses his trembling lips to mine, and in his kiss I feel the strength of his love. I hook my arms around his neck and pull him close, deepening our embrace and showing him what he means to me.
When he pulls away, Luca slides his hand over my stomach and leans his forehead against mine. He lets out a shuddering breath, and a tear rolls down his cheek.
“I’m going to be a dad,” he sighs.
“And you’re…you’re happy about that?” My voice squeaks.
Luca chuckles. “Yes, Ivy. I’m happy about it. More than happy. Ecstatic. Over the moon. Head over heels in love with you.”
I bite my lip to stop it from trembling. Luca grabs a chair and pulls it toward the bed, sliding his hand into mine. I bring it up to my lips and lay a kiss on the back of his hand, and then nuzzle my face against him. His skin smells so good.
I missed him so, so much.
“I’m here,” he repeats, over and over. “I’m here.”
We stay there for a long time without moving. Every time he says, ‘I’m here,’ it loosens some of the tension in my heart. When he presses another kiss to my lips, love fills up my heart so fully that I feel like I’m going to explode with happiness.
In that moment, I realize many things.
I learn that I’m strong enough to do it on my own. Strong enough to rebuild the bakery. Strong enough to carry this child. Strong enough to walk away from my sister if she doesn’t want me in her life, and doesn’t treat me like I deserve to be treated.
But I also learn that I don’t want to do it on my own—and I don’t have to. In Luca’s arms, with few words being spoken between us, I feel the kind of unity and peace that I didn’t even know existed before this moment. I let go of the fears that have held me back from loving Luca like he should be loved, and I open my heart to him completely.
The Prince lets out a sigh, and our souls melt together. He pulls away from me, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.
“I love you, Ivy.”
Blinking back tears, I nod. “I love you, too.”
It doesn’t feel like enough. How can the word ‘love’ encompass everything I feel for him? I want to tell him that he makes everything brighter. Now that he’s here, I’m not afraid. I felt strong before, but he makes me feel invincible.
Instead, I just squeeze his hand and stare into his eyes. A thousand unsaid words fly between us in that gaze, and my heart beats with his.
Behind him, Margot clears her throat in the doorway.
I stiffen. “Margot.”
“Hi, Ivy,” she says, her eyebrows arching uncertainly. “Can I come in?”
I gulp, nodding.
She takes a hesitant step forward. Her face is drawn, and she wrings her hands in front of her stomach. Her chest rises and falls quickly as her breaths become more staggered.
“Ivy…”
I shake my head. “It’s okay, Margot.”
“It’s not.”
“It is. You’re my sister. Always will be.”
“I was an ass.”
“So was I.”
Margot laughs, shaking her head. “Stop it. You’ve always been a saint.”
“You don’t know the thoughts that have crossed my mind,” I smile. A tear rolls down my cheek. “They’ve been far from saintly.”
Guilt crosses Margot’s face. She glances at Luca, and then takes a deep breath. “It was Hunter.” Her voice cracks when she says his name. “The bacteria in your pastries. Hunter planted it. He thought…” She chokes on the words, shaking her head. “I didn’t know. I swear, I didn’t know. I’m sorry, Ivy. I would never…”
Shock freezes me for a moment, but my sister’s tears make me spread my arms toward her. She buries her head next to mine and sobs, apologizing over and over again.
I pat her head and whisper comforting words until she pulls away.
“I fired him, Ivy.” My sister stares into my eyes and lets out a heavy sigh. “I would never…”
“I know.”
Luca squeezes my hand, and I reach my other hand toward my sister. She sits on the edge of the bed, staring out of the window as she holds my hand.
With a deep breath, she swings her eyes over to me. “I’ve always been jealous of you, Ivy.”
That makes me laugh. “Me? You’re the one who has it all.”
She shakes her head. “You’re just like Mama. You got her eyes, and her soul. She was the kindest, most thoughtful person in the world. And I’m just like Dad. Selfish, self-absorbed, short-sighted.” She sighs. “Except for one thing, I guess,” she adds, mostly to herself.
; “Don’t say that.”
My sister gulps. “It’s true.” She looks at the Prince and then back at me. “I should never have gotten between you two. I can see how much you care about each other. I was scared of being alone.”
“It was a weird situation,” I smile. “Takes some getting used to.”
Margot nods, and tears fill her eyes.
She opens her mouth, but before she can speak, I clear my throat. I glance at Luca, and he gives me the slightest nod.
He knows that I want to tell her about the baby. With just one glance, he understands everything that’s happening inside my heart, and is there to support me. It’s micro-moments like this that make me appreciate him even more. My love for him multiplies in an instant. I take a deep breath, bracing myself to deliver the next bombshell that will rock Margot’s world.
“Margot,” I say softly, forcing myself to look her in the eyes, “I’m pregnant.”
My sister’s eyes widen. She glances from me, to the Prince, and back to me again. She swallows thickly.
I’m not sure what I expect her to say. Congratulations, maybe. Or some platitude that comes to her head. The last thing that I expect her to say are the words that eventually come out of her mouth.
Margot takes a deep breath, blowing it out and then biting her lower lip. She drags her gaze up to mine, her eyes wide and full of fear.
“Me too.”
Wicked Prince
An Accidental Pregnancy Romance
Royally Unexpected: Book 5
1
Margot
Atonement.
That’s what I’m doing when I haul another tray of baked goods into a cooling rack at my sister’s bakery. I move to sweep flour off the floor and smile as my sister comes through the door.
“You don’t have to do this, Margot,” Ivy says. “I have enough employees. You should just relax.”
My sister’s black hair is pulled into a sleek ponytail. She wipes her hands on her apron, glancing through the front door of the bakery. Chewing her bottom lip, Ivy wrings her hands. “You think people will come back?”
Royally Unexpected 2: An Accidental Pregnancy Collection (Surprise Baby Stories) Page 22